


Creativity

by orphan_account



Category: Free!
Genre: Complete Fandom Trash, Creative Writing AU, Extreme Shipping, M/M, reigisa - Freeform, this spiralled out of control
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-09
Updated: 2016-06-09
Packaged: 2018-07-14 02:16:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,213
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7148273
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rei and Nagisa are partnered together for a creative writing project, but the story they write isn't the only thing that ends up with a romantic subplot.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Creativity

Rei rests the side of his head against his hand, sliding his fingers into his hair. He taps an idle pen on the page, listens to the rain patter against the windows, and tries to project himself anywhere except for this class.

They’re analyzing poetry. Rei can do that; it’s not difficult for him. Poems are just words slid together like a puzzle, and as a scientist, he knows how it is to take apart the pieces. He just doesn’t understand the purpose of it, can’t see why his teacher insists that it’s beautiful, and Rei can feel his attention slipping past the event horizon to the point of no return.

“We’re starting a new project today,” Amakata-sensei announces. Rei quirks an eyebrow up, shifting his eyes ever so slightly to the clock. There’s five minutes left of class.

“You and a partner will have two weeks to write a story. One thousand words minimum, and it can be about anything you want.” There’s a mixed reaction at her words. Some lean forward, a gleam in their eyes, the cogs in their minds already shifting and turning; others groan, slamming their heads onto their desks.

Rei belongs to the latter. He closes his eyes against the cool metal surface and tries not to scream. Other assignments he can handle because he has a prompt to work with or an outline to organize around, but writing a story is the equivalent of creating something from nothing and that goes against the fundamental laws of physics.

He turns his head around a little bit as Amakata-sensei is reading off the list of partners, hoping that he’s either with someone who is a good writer or someone he can tolerate. Preferably both.

“Ryugazaki Rei and Hazuki Nagisa,” she says, and Rei sinks down lower into his chair and wonders whether his teacher and the universe are conspiring to land him in the least beautiful situation possible.

It’s not that Rei dislikes Nagisa. In a way, Nagisa fascinates him. His personality is so different from Rei’s that it’s like Nagisa is from a different planet, and Rei can’t help but stare.

Nagisa is _loud_. And annoying. He’s a hyperactive tornado that arrives late to class and forgets to turn in his homework and will _not shut up_ no matter how many times he’s moved, and Rei is seated right next to him and therefore has a front-row view of his antics.

Rei cranes his head around to look at Nagisa, who is not being loud for once because he’s asleep. His curls are splayed out on the desk and a little bit of drool has pooled onto his sweater sleeve, and even though a tiny part in the back of Rei’s mind relates to how nap-worthy the poetry analysis was, Rei’s thoughts are mostly preoccupied with the decision _I can’t work with this guy._

When the bell rings and Nagisa still doesn’t wake, Rei prods him with his pen once, twice, three times, and Nagisa jerks upright. He sees the rapidly emptying classroom, mouths a “thank you” to Rei, then messily throws his books into his bag and speeds out.

Rei steels himself and hesitantly walks up to his teacher’s desk.

“Yes, Rei?” she says.

“Is there any specific type of story you would prefer to have us write?” Rei asks, to stall, and also because he legitimately doesn’t even know where to begin with this paper.

“No. Just use your creativity,” she says, smiling, and Rei internally shudders. _Creativity._ In the world of logic and numbers, there’s no use for creativity- every problem has exactly one solution, but creativity equals a variety of answers to a question Rei can’t even begin to understand.

“Also, um…” Rei says, fidgeting, “Is it, uh, possible for me to work alone on this project?” He feels bad about leaving Nagisa to his own devices, but he’s _fairly_ certain that Nagisa wouldn’t want to work with him either, and he seriously hopes Amakata-sensei won’t question him because Rei doesn’t think he has the guts to explain this.

His teacher fixes him with a stern gaze, and Rei automatically regrets asking. “Do you and Nagisa not get along?”

Rei flushes. “No, well, I’ve never interacted with him before, but he and I don’t seem to have any-”

“Well, then this is a good opportunity for you to learn more about your fellow classmate!” She beams. “As Confucius said, ‘three men walking, one is certainly my teacher’. Maybe Nagisa can show you something you don’t already know.”

Rei sighs. “Amakata-sensei, I don’t-”

“Rei, I think it’s time for your next class,” she says, and Rei gives up and admits defeat. He has no idea what to do. Science has never required the gift of persuasion, and Amakata doesn’t seem to be interested in hearing him list all the points of the clear incompatibility between his and Nagisa’s personalities and the low probability of their cooperation, and it’s not like Rei can punch their statistics into a calculator and wave it in front of her face. So he walks out.

\---

Rei is hopeless.

Last night, after finishing his calculus and chemistry homework in ninety-seven minutes, he consumes an apple, cleans his room, organizes the apps on his phone for maximum beauty, then attempts the art of aimless procrastination for fifty-five minutes until he finally sits down at his desk with a blank sheet of notebook paper and starts to write.

He gets as far as his name and the date and then stops.

What kind of genre is it going to be, anyway? Sci-fi? Realistic? Fantasy? All Rei can think of are characters from past books he’s read and settings from various movies, and so then he hops online and types in “random plot generator”, proceeding to reject plot after plot because they all seem desperately contrived or outrageously far-fetched. It gets to the point where Rei contemplates stealing an idea or two from the bottomless depths of Wattpad.com but then decides he’s not going to go _that_ far.

Shoot. He’s royally screwed. Rei had planned on writing the story himself without Nagisa’s help and then just turning it in under both of their names (this is how he does most group projects, anyway), but Rei has literally no idea what he’s doing and will probably end up scoring a zero for both of them. The prospect of scoring less than a ninety on anything makes Rei feel sick.

One hundred and twenty-six minutes have passed since Rei first attempted to write the story. It is 9:16 PM when Rei admits that he completely sucks at this, and only then does Rei contemplate working with Nagisa.

It’s a disagreeable thought, so foreign and unexpected that Rei wonders if he has been mind-hacked, as if the thought were some kind of malware invading Rei’s programming of all perfect lines of code and binary and academic independence.

But no, because right now, Rei is tailing Nagisa in the hallway, trying to find the right moment to cut in because Nagisa won’t freaking stop _talking_ to everyone. Rei manages to pin him near his locker just as passing period is about to end, and Rei goes into internal-crisis mode as he realizes that he’s going to be late for his next class.

“Um, greetings, Hazuki-san,” he says. Nagisa turns to face him and Rei is momentarily blinded by the vibrating ball of sunshine in front of him.

Nagisa’s carefree expression morphs into a look of confusion. “Um, hi?” Rei’s never approached him before, and Rei briefly wonders what Nagisa sees _him_ as, or if Nagisa has ever bothered to notice Rei at all. Probably not.

“Ryugazaki Rei. I’m in your literature class and your partner in the creative writing project,” Rei explains.

“What project?” Nagisa asks.

_Oh, right._ “We were assigned partners yesterday, but you probably don’t know about that. You were asleep,” Rei says. A hint of reproach works itself into his voice.

Nagisa frowns. “Oh, yeah! Sorry. I was really tired ‘cause my parents made me study for this test or else I’d get kicked off the school swim team. Which you should join, by the way-”

Rei cuts him off. “We’re required to write a story of one thousand words minimum, no prompt.”

Nagisa’s eyes widen. “Wait. So like, whatever we want?”

“Yes?” Rei says. He doesn’t see why Nagisa looks so excited all of a sudden.

“We never get to do that!” Nagisa yells. “Kay, Rei-chan, meet me at seven at the tea shop across the street. See ya! I gotta go!”

Nagisa slings his bag over his shoulder and dashes off to his next class. Rei stares at his retreating back. _Rei-chan_?

The bell rings. Rei sighs and prays his physics teacher will excuse his first tardy of the year. He supposes that when Nagisa is involved, everything suddenly gets excruciatingly messy.

\---

Rei walks over to the shopping plaza at 6:50. The pavements are slick with rain and the wind is just on the side of chilly. Rei tugs his sweater tighter around himself.

It suddenly occurs to him that Nagisa never specified which tea place, so Rei scans the names of the shops, wondering which one Nagisa meant.

Rei suddenly feels self-conscious about the fact he’s never been here before. He knows that students flock over to this plaza after school, laughing and talking, but Rei has never been included in those outings. He would always head home after track practice to study. Does Nagisa expect Rei to know which tea shop he was talking about, like some sort of test?

Rei shakes off his strange thoughts, wondering why he suddenly feels lonely.

He stops walking when he sees a store front with giant pink bubble letters that reads “Tea!” Rei pushes open the door and goes inside.

The inside of the shop is warmly lit with hanging lamps and fluorescent ceiling lights, the walls patterned with pretty tan and ivory waves. It’s mostly empty, a couple of the booths occupied, one by a man reading a newspaper, another by a harried-looking woman frantically typing on a keyboard. There are several couples, holding hands and starry-eyed.

Rei realizes the cashier is staring at him expectantly. He has brown hair, green eyes, and a gentle smile that somehow also urges Rei to hurry up and order. Rei wishes he had the ability to convey everything he wants to say in one perfectly executed smile.

“Um, I apologize, I’m still deciding,” he says, eyes hastily flicking over to the giant menu on the wall.

“Oh, are you the one Nagisa was talking about?” The cashier asks, and then a guilty expression slips onto his face, like he just said something he shouldn’t have said.

“No…” Rei says, confused. “You must have mistaken me for someone else.”

The doors burst open, the little door-chimes violently tinkling in protest, and Nagisa rockets in five minutes late.

“Hey! Rei-chan, Mako-chan,” he says.

“Hi, Nagisa,” says presumably-Mako-chan. “Rei-san was just deciding what to order.”

Nagisa swivels around and pins him with an expectant stare. “Have you ever had bubble tea?” He demands.

Rei blinks. “Hasn’t everyone?”

“No! Well, yes. But have you ever had _Haru-chan’s_ bubble tea?”

A dark-haired head pops up from beneath the counter. “I told you to stop calling me that.”

“Sorry, Haru-chan,” Nagisa says, grinning unabashedly. “Anyway, one medium strawberry bubble tea, and Rei, what’s your favorite flavor?”

“Blueberry,” Rei says, and Nagisa asks for a blueberry bubble tea.

“Oh, and Makoto’s chocolate chip cookies. They’re _fabulous_ ,” Nagisa says. Makoto heads over to the back and bustles around while Nagisa and Rei awkwardly wait over at the counter, a silence stretching between them.

“Does Haru-san make cookies, too?” Rei says, just to have something to say.

Haru’s vivid, striking blue eyes suddenly pull hold on Rei’s. “I only brew tea,” Haru says.

Nagisa makes a one-second gesture with his hand and drags Rei over to a corner. “Do _not_ get Haru-chan started with the tea! Last time I did that, he said something about how the tea was going to bare its fangs and attack, so just _no._ You’ll be here for hours,” Nagisa whispers fervently into Rei’s ear.

“Understood,” Rei stammers, wondering what exactly Nagisa is talking about. He decides he doesn’t want to find out.

A few minutes later, they get their food and make their way over to one of the tables. Rei slides into the seat across from Nagisa, who is taking out a pink penguin-stickered spiral notebook from his bag. Then he rifles through his folders and frowns. “I always lose my pencils- it’s like there’s some kind of magical vortex that eats them or something.”

Rei takes out a pencil case and extricates two mechanical pencils with twist-up erasers. “Here.”

“So, who should we write about?” Nagisa asks.

Rei frowns. “Excuse me?”

“You know, like, who should we write about?” Nagisa says again, gesturing wildly around the room.

Rei considers telling Nagisa that he makes no sense but then decides why not, he’ll play along. He waves a hand over to a red-haired girl and a dark-haired guy sitting over in one of the booths. She’s asleep on his bicep, his jacket draped over her shoulders. Their relationship is ambiguous to the casual onlooker; they could either be friends or lovers.

“Hmm,” Nagisa says, tapping his fingers on the table. “Her code name is… Gou, but she prefers to be called Kou, because you know, it’s more feminine. She has a not-so-secret muscle fetish. Anyway, she’s on an espionage mission to transport top-secret research files over to a lab, and she’s been traveling for three days straight and she’s tired. So she stopped in here for some bubble tea.”

Rei is furiously scribbling down everything Nagisa is saying. “And?”

“ _And_ ,” Nagisa says, eyes sparkling, “So here’s this guy, and his name’s uh… let’s see. His code name is Sousuke, and he wants her files. And Gou likes muscles, and Sousuke has those, and then he slides over and compliments her and gives her his jacket cause she’s shivering, and then he spikes her bubble tea with a drug,” he says. “Did you get all that?”   

“Yeah,” Rei says in amazement.

“In reality, they’re two high-schoolers hanging out,” Nagisa says. He pauses, then adds, “She does have the muscle fetish, though. I wasn’t making up that part.”

Rei debates over what to do with this strange piece of information before deciding on changing the subject. “Haru’s bubble tea really is beautiful,” he says. “Factors such as taste and texture are absolutely unparalleled by any other bubble teas I’ve tasted.”

Nagisa flashes him one of those blinding smiles, as if Rei has just complimented Nagisa rather than Haru. “I know, right?”

Nagisa reaches out and grabs the piece of paper Rei had been using to record Nagisa’s ideas, eyes roving over the scribbled words. “So, who’s writing what?”

“If you wrote the exposition, it would utilize your character and world-building skills and also set up the plot,” Rei says thoughtfully. “I can continue when it gets to the rising action.”

“Sure,” Nagisa agrees, clicks the mechanical pencil a couple times, then starts to furiously scribble. For a while, they’re completely silent save for the skritch-skratch of Nagisa’s pencil. Rei watches him, mesmerized. Nagisa writes so enthusiastically, his brow furrowed in concentration, the pencil never stopping. Rei notes that Nagisa never uses the eraser, instead opting to cross out a word or sentence he doesn’t like and squeezing the in-text revision on top of it.

He fills in about four pages and then hands it to Rei. Nagisa has set the story in a Cold War-esque setting, with Gou carrying diagrams for an important invention and Sousuke hoping to take it. It’s an interesting concept, and even though Nagisa’s spelling is terrible and handwriting near-illegible, Rei is hooked as he reads over what Nagisa wrote.

Unlike Nagisa, Rei does not write at the speed of light. He’s careful, methodical, slowly organizing and collecting all of his ideas before he even begins to put it on paper. It’s eleven o’clock when Nagisa yells, “I have to go, whoops! My parents are going to kill me if I stay longer, so see you! Same place, same time tomorrow?”

“Yeah,” Rei says, nodding. “Goodbye, Nagisa-kun.”

Nagisa gives a final wave before he turns and sprints out the door. Rei picks up the notebook Nagisa has left behind and flips through it.

They’ve already written well over one thousand words, but Rei, for some reason, does not want to stop.

\---

The second day they meet up, Rei and Nagisa get absolutely nothing done. Rei isn’t surprised. The idea of a planned schedule does not correspond with Rei’s idea of Nagisa.

At seven, Rei is already sitting at a table, a tray perched next to him containing a blueberry bubble tea and some more of Makoto’s baked goods. He also has two pencils and Nagisa’s notebook.

Nagisa, like last time, arrives five minutes late and flings open the shop’s doors. Unlike last time, he has a pink laptop case tucked in the crook of his elbow and a pair of earbuds with the wires dangling haphazardly all over the place.

“MAKO-CHAN!” Nagisa yells. Half the room turns to stare at him, and Rei smiles helplessly. “THE NEW EPISODE OF HAIKYU IS ON CRUNCHYROLL! Let’s watch it!”

“Don’t you and Rei have an assignment to do?” Makoto says, bleaching the counter and wiping it off with a cloth. “Besides, I’m on a work shift right now.”

“C’mon, Makoto!” Nagisa wheedles. “It’s _Haikyu_.”

“What’s Haikyu?” Rei asks. He doesn’t really care about what Haikyu is, but he and Nagisa should get that out of the way so they can focus on the story. It has the opposite effect of what was intended.

Nagisa gapes at him. “You don’t know what Haikyu is?”

“No?” Rei says, raising an eyebrow.

Nagisa stands stock-still, as if the forever animated motion-picture movie that is Nagisa has suddenly been put on pause, and Makoto uses this split second to send Rei the messages _I’m sorry you don’t watch Haikyu, I feel bad for you_ and _I’m sorry you told Nagisa you don’t watch Haikyu, I feel bad for you_ all in the form of a perfectly packaged smile. Haru’s expression doesn’t change, but his eyes glitter with amusement.

“Rei-chaaaaaaan!” Nagisa shrieks, and Rei dreads the incoming verbal tornado about to befall him. “How can you _not_ watch Haikyu? It is literally the best show ever! It made me love volleyball and I don’t even _play_ volleyball, and I can’t _believe_ you don’t watch it!”

“Nagisa-kun, we really ought to work on the-”

“Nope. We’ve _clearly_ got bigger problems to deal with here. You’ve _never watched Haikyu.”_

“Nagisa-”

“Rei-chan,” Nagisa pleads, then adopts a puppy-dog expression that would probably convince Satan himself to hand over his birthday cupcakes. “Haikyu is _beautiful._ ”

Rei face-plants onto the table, glasses smashing themselves into his face. _I can’t resist._

He scoots over and allows Nagisa to stick one of his earbuds into Rei’s ear, open his laptop, and press play. They watch a Benzac advertisement and the opening credits start to roll, and Rei has to admit, it _is_ catchy.

Suddenly, Nagisa fits his side against Rei and tucks his head right between Rei’s neck and shoulder, his hair brushing Rei’s chin, and it’s like Rei’s nerves have been set on fire. His thoughts, which were originally caught between annoyance and amusement, suddenly veer off track and fall down a pit labeled _oh god do I find this guy attractive_?

Half of Rei’s mind is screaming at his thought to backtrack to safer waters, while the other half of Rei’s mind coolly betrays him and starts calculating whether or not he finds Nagisa attractive. After considering such factors like _yeah his mess of blonde curls is adorable_ and _his shirt fits him extremely well_ his mind comes to the conclusion that yes, he does find the person who is currently half-attached to him attractive.

Nagisa isn’t someone who has any concept of personal space or social etiquette in general. Rei knows that by now, and he accepts it. But the fact Rei isn’t just tolerating this particular breach of his personal bubble but rather _enjoying_ it speaks volumes about a topic that his mind finally declares taboo for the sake of Rei’s sanity.

After a few minutes, Nagisa absentmindedly moves his head away from Rei’s shoulder and onto the booth headrest instead. Rei is relieved, though the space between shoulder and neck now feels empty, and he realizes that he literally had just missed the first half of the episode and has absolutely no idea what’s going on. He hastily shifts his attention toward the screen.

_Nagisa wasn’t kidding about how good Haikyu was,_ Rei thinks in dismay as his fingers click involuntarily for the next episode. It’s a scientific enigma as to why a show about idiotic high school volleyboys is so incredibly engrossing, but Rei and Nagisa end up watching another seven episodes before they leave, Makoto joining them around halfway.

That night, Rei dreams that he’s setting the ball with the dark-haired setter’s incredible precision. Nagisa spikes it over the net. It lands squarely between two opponents and he and Nagisa scream in victory.

Rei wakes feeling unsettled. He doesn’t know whether it’s because of his newfound addiction to sports anime or if it’s because Nagisa has now wormed his way into Rei’s dreams.

\---

The next day, when Rei walks into the tea shop, Nagisa is already there. His hair is wet like he just came back from a swim meet, and Rei wonders if Nagisa smells like chlorine. He pushes that thought away.

Nagisa looks up when Rei comes in and beams. “Hey! Uh, sorry that we didn’t get anything done yesterday. Haikyu’s a good show, though, right?”

“Yeah,” Rei says. He doesn’t tell Nagisa that his search history is now filled with volleyball fanart.

Nagisa giggles. “You totally like it.”

Rei flicks him on the forehead, and Nagisa _eeps_ and accidentally flings Makoto’s cookies into Rei’s face. Rei doesn’t mind. Makoto’s cookies are great no matter what velocity they’re traveling at.

“So,” Nagisa says, pointing at one of the booths. “They’re back.”

Rei looks over to where Nagisa is pointing and sees “Gou” and “Sousuke”. She whispers something in his ear; he looks toward the direction of the doorway. A guy shoves open the double doors and drags “Sousuke” out by the wrist, “Gou” sprinting after them.

Nagisa grimaces and closes his eyes. “Okay, so the guy who just ran into the shop- his name’s Rin, and Sousuke works for him. Sousuke gives him the files he stole from Gou before realizing that Rin is actually going to use the files for his own purposes, and Gou and Sousuke are forced to work together to get the files back.”

Rei works hard to wipe the impressed expression off of his face. He hates to admit it, but Nagisa is so good at this. And Nagisa is so good _about_ this. If Rei had been the one coming up with all of the ideas, he would have made sure to hold it over Nagisa’s head, making sure Nagisa knew just how much he owed Rei. But whenever Nagisa compliments him, it’s so genuine even though Rei’s sure he doesn’t deserve the praise.

Nagisa writes furiously, filling up page after page, and Rei thinks about whether he and Nagisa will continue to meet up after the project is complete. The probability’s pretty low. Nagisa will forget Rei, because even though Nagisa makes Rei feel liked, Rei is certain Nagisa makes everyone feel liked for the time being to keep everything running smoothly.

It doesn’t work that way with Rei, and Rei doesn’t want to be in a situation where he thinks that he and Nagisa might be _something_ while Nagisa just sees him as a writing partner.

Nagisa slides the notebook over to him and Rei begins to write, glad for the distraction. He carefully considers the mechanics of each stunt that Gou and Sousuke would perform as they attempt to get the files back from Rin and foil his plans, and Rei finds his random transportation knowledge and computer-programming logistics highly useful.

Nagisa has to go home before Rei is finished, so Rei offers to stay and finish up the climax. He’s only half paying attention to what he’s writing, though; rather, he’s thinking about Nagisa. He thinks about how Nagisa is like a piece of art that a kindergartner drew: wild, imaginative, colored way outside the lines. So different than the clean lines of the architect Rei is, but he _prefers_ Nagisa that way.

As Rei is about to leave, he looks back at the paragraphs he wrote and sees he has given Sousuke and Gou’s relationship a very conspicuous romantic edge without meaning to do so.

\---

Rei holds true to his promise and finishes writing the climax, staying up way past midnight to do so. He doesn’t regret it.

Nagisa is waiting for Rei with a blueberry bubble tea, and Rei realizes with dismay that Rei now owes Nagisa yet _another_ something. Nagisa probably doesn’t see it that way, but Rei sees everything as an equation, and he likes when things balance.

“So, the falling action is Gou and Sousuke getting to know each other better, you know, not as spies, but like, as people, and the denouement-” Nagisa pronounces denouement with an accent that makes Rei think of private yachts with fancy cocktails “-is them kissing. How’s that, Rei?”

“That would be the logical ending,” Rei says.

“Rei-chan! There’s no logic in kissing!” Nagisa laughs, and grins. “Just, the flirting has to lead somewhere, you know? And I can write the falling action, cause social interaction is what I’m about, and you can write the ending.”

Rei lets out an indignant squawk. “Na-Nagisa-kun! I have no experience with the logistics of kissing whatsoever, so _I_ am hardly fit to write an entire ending sequence about it!”

“Well, neither do I,” Nagisa says.

“Really?” Rei asks, caught off guard. He has assumed that Nagisa has already kissed a dozen people and a half, but it seems that he is wrong. But then again, he’s always desperately wrong about Nagisa. Rei doesn’t know whether it’s his fault for making assumptions or Nagisa’s fault for not aligning with them.

Rei realizes that’s ridiculous. Nagisa can’t help being unpredictable, and Rei shouldn’t mind.

“Well, I suppose we have a dilemma then,” Rei muses.

Nagisa is silent for a minute. So is Rei, trying to properly conjure up a description of a kiss, perhaps trying to phrase it as a math problem and considering factors such as incoming speeds and angle of trajectory. Kissing sounds a lot like rocket science.

Nagisa’s face lights up. “Hey! I’ve got an idea!”

So does Rei. They can pull up some Fanfiction (preferably Haikyu), open up Thesaurus.com on another tab, and go from there.

“Let’s practice kissing. That way, we’ll both know!”

...Or that.

Rei first considers the logic of the idea. _Yeah, that’d work, actually._ Then, the other side of his mind overrides that sentiment and points out the sheer insanity of Nagisa’s words.

“Bweh?” Rei sputters coherently. “Us? Kiss?’

“Yeah!” Nagisa says. “Plus, it’d be kinda nice to have your first kiss over with, right?”

It. Is. So. Nagisa. The entire demented plan- everything. So bold and straightforward and absolutely terrifying. Especially since it _is_ Nagisa, who probably thinks the whole thing means nothing at all, who probably considers this another one of his brilliant maneuvers not knowing it means everything to Rei.

It isn’t supposed to mean anything to Rei, so Rei looks for a reason, a tiny, insignificant reason, to refute him. Maybe he can point out that it would unsanitary- no, that would be insulting toward Nagisa. That he was allergic to chlorine- no, that’s absolutely ridiculous. That Rei didn’t want to kiss Nagisa- well… Rei’s always been bad at lying.

“We’re in public,” Rei points out.

Nagisa rolls his eyes and drags Rei off to the direction of the family bathroom. Nagisa pulls them into the stall and turns the lock, then turns to look at Rei expectantly. Rei awkwardly tries to avoid falling into the toilet.

If this scenario were a question on his probability test, Rei would probably say that the odds of it happening were about one to one trillion. Except here he is. Locked in a bathroom with Nagisa, the leaky faucet drip-dripping behind them, and- and- is that a _tampon, why world_ -

Nagisa pops a breath mint into his mouth. Somewhere in the muddled forest that is currently Rei’s brain it occurs to him that move is very considerate of Nagisa.

Nagisa frowns, tilts his head sort of to the side, adjusts a bit, decides that this will be his level of entry, and then sort of presses his mouth to Rei’s. For a second, their faces are stuck in the awkward contact position, Rei’s eyes opened wide and Nagisa’s squeezed tightly shut, and then Nagisa kind of just _moves_ his mouth, and it’s dry and chaste and soft. Nagisa draws back; Rei releases the breath he’s been holding and realizes that he’s left with the aftertaste of strawberry and mint.

Nagisa looks uncomfortable, his cheeks tinted slightly red, and yeah, it’s like he is _just_ discovering the situation’s a bit abnormal. It in no way rivals Rei’s fiery red cheeks and his sweaty hands and _someone call the medic_ because Rei is showing symptoms of someone about to pass out.

“Okay!” Nagisa says cheerily. “It’s Gou and Sousuke’s first kiss, too, so it’s allowed to be awkward. Out-out-” and he pushes Rei out of the stall “-I have to pee.”

Rei sees Makoto shooting him another one of those meaning-laden smiles- _aw, did you just get roped into another one of Nagisa’s plans-_ and Rei internally dies. He wishes he had more chemistry homework to take his mind off of this, even though he doubts he’d be able to focus.

He makes himself sit down, and, because he wants to torture himself, begins to write the kiss scene. Except it isn’t Gou and Sousuke’s kiss scene, it’s his and Nagisa’s, and he feels exposed with the description of _their_ kiss just lying on the page for everyone to see, and geez, it’s like his literature teacher is going to indirectly witness Rei’s awkward first kiss.

Nagisa bounds over to him as he’s writing it and eyes it critically. Rei wonders why he doesn’t feel more embarrassed before guessing his brain probably has already taken the maximum level of embarrassment the human body is designed to hold.

“Yeah, that’s good, and I like the way you portrayed Gou, cause she’s like- it’s like, she’s nervous cause she doesn’t know if Sousuke meant it, and yeah, Sousuke did mean it-” Rei thinks that Nagisa’s speech is slightly more rambling than usual.

But wait. _Wait._

Rei panics. _Gou’s thoughts_? No, those aren’t Gou’s thoughts. Those are Rei’s thoughts, and Sousuke’s reciprocation is what he wants from Nagisa- so did Rei just- he did. Rei just wrote some freaking Rei/Nagisa (Reigisa?) Fanfiction, disguising their identities with a red-haired teenage girl (with a muscle fetish, no less) and a musclebound teenage boy, and wow Rei is more screwed than he originally thought.

“Our kiss contained no meaning,” Rei blurts out. What is he even saying anymore? Anything to throw Nagisa off track. “It was for the sake of creativity.”

Creativity. Rei has done some pretty weird things in the name of science, but he’s never _kissed_ anyone under the name of science, and certainly not with such obtrusive ulterior motives that he doesn’t want to consider.

Nagisa gives him a strange look. “Yeah, creativity, doi!”

Rei coughs and polishes his glasses with his shirt. “Um, since our first draft is done, we can stop meeting up here and just type it up on the computer and revise it.”

“Ooh! I’ll take home the pages you write and you can take home the pages I wrote, so when we type it up we’ll be revising each other’s stuff!” Nagisa beams.

“I’ll share a document with you over Google Drive,” Rei says. “What’s your email?”

Rei prays that Nagisa won’t just grab a Sharpie and scribble his email all over Rei’s arm, because he doesn’t need any physical evidence that Nagisa has him completely down for the count. Fortunately, Nagisa doesn’t. He tears a sheet out of his notebook (Nagisa is a stickler about perforation; Rei files that way in his mind) and writes it down.

“Yeah, okay,” Nagisa says. He sounds like he’s talking to himself more than Rei. “Bye, Rei-chan! I have to go home now.”

Nagisa dashes out, and Rei packs up his stuff. It gives him time to agonize over the turn of today’s events. He doesn’t want to, so instead, he focuses on very carefully organizing his pencils into his pencil box.

“Hey,” Makoto hesitantly calls out from behind the counter. “What’s up?”

“I have no idea,” Rei replies. It’s absolutely true.

\---

**Nagisa: REI**

**Nagisa: REI-CHAN**

**Nagisa: THERE’S A NYAN CAT EMOJI OMG**

It’s 7:51 PM, and Rei is seated in front of his computer. It’s a lot easier to talk to Nagisa when his face is hidden by the screen.

**Rei: Your fascination with this particular set of pixels amuses me. Have you never seen this Graphics Interchange Format before?**

**Nagisa: O.O**

**Nagisa: “particular set of pixels”**

**Nagisa: REIIIIIII DUUUUUUUDE**

**Nagisa: LOSE THE PUNCTUATION AND GRAMMAR LOL**

**Rei: Why would I do that?**

**Nagisa: nuuuuu**

**Nagisa: aw rei no one talks like that over chat**

**Nagisa: its just like**

**Nagisa: *sighs***

**Rei: *Is this how to properly communicate via online messaging?***

**Nagisa: wut**

**Nagisa: geez okay i tried**

**Nagisa: texty gods plz forgive me I TRIED hes hopeless**

**Rei: no idea wut ur talking about**

**Rei: let’s begin?**

**Nagisa: REI-CHAN!!!!!!!!!!!!! YOU TRICKED ME!!!!!**

Rei smirks. He’s not _that_ bad.

**Nagisa: okay let’s go! Let’s do this!**

**Rei: Here it’d be more practical if I typed on a different document and then copy-pasted it on here.**

**Nagisa: no its the return of the grammar**

**Rei: Eh, sorry, Nagisa-kun. I just prefer it that way.**

**Nagisa: *groans***

**Nagisa: your loss**

**Nagisa: but cool we got our game plan**

Rei and Nagisa end up typing about half of the story that night. It’s easy on Rei’s part- he covers up any of Rei’s minor plot holes, makes certain aspects of the story more realistic, and just applies a layer of polish in general.

**Nagisa: imma turn in for the night. U?**

**Rei: Yeah, sure.**

**Nagisa: its really fun working with u**

**Nagisa: u know that, rei-chan?**

**Rei: Thanks, Nagisa-kun. You too.**

**Nagisa: Baiii!!! G’night!!!**

He can imagine Nagisa’s fingers flying over the keyboard. Rei bets the tiny script on Nagisa’s Shift Key is worn down from so much use, much like Rei’s backspace. He always wants his words to be perfect.

Rei wonders what happens after tomorrow, after they type up their final sentences, make last minute revisions, and press print. They’ll return to their individual social circles- Nagisa’s huge and all-encompassing, Rei’s nonexistent. They probably won’t ever talk again.

Rei can imagine he and Nagisa running into each other at the Tea! Shop sometime later in the year, because Rei likes Haru’s blueberry bubble tea enough to go back. Nagisa might spare him a wave before returning to the flock of people surrounding him, and the thought slices into Rei’s mind with a dull little pang.

Rei imagines he won’t care after a while. Perhaps the writing project is the universe’s gift to him- no, that’s silly, not scientific- perhaps getting to know Nagisa is a particularly favorable sequence of events in the huge, wide, space-time fabric. Rei won’t ask for more.

\---

The next night, Rei tries to type slowly. But he can’t- it’s like those math tests where he tries to go slow but that’s not just his rhythm, and actively attempting to dawdle is something Rei has never approved of. It’s behavior unbecoming to a scientist.

Rei copy-pastes his work onto the final document, and Nagisa finishes up about ten minutes later. Rei and Nagisa both give it a final once-over, and Rei can see Nagisa’s pink cursor clicking frantically, and he smiles a little because it’s like Nagisa himself is jumping around.

**Nagisa: can u print**

**Nagisa: ours is broken**

**Rei: Okay. I’ll print two copies just in case.**

Nagisa is typing, and Rei dreads Nagisa’s inevitable goodbye, bouncy and enthusiastic as always.

**Nagisa: hey so come to the tea shop tomorrow same time?**

Rei’s fingers instinctively move to type _why_? Then Rei decides against it because who cares, and he fights to keep his answer casual because he wants to borrow a leaf from Nagisa’s book and answer in all-caps with a copious amount of exclamation marks thrown into the mix.

**Rei: Yeah, sure.**

**Nagisa: cool see ya there**

**Rei: Good night, Nagisa-kun.**

**Nagisa: k rei-chan! Sweet dreams!!!!**

\---

Rei pointedly looks away from Amakata-sensei when Rei hands in his and Nagisa’s story. It’s about five times the required length, and Rei can just _feel_ her patting herself on the back for getting the idea to coerce the two opposites into working together.

Rei likes that he is wrong about Nagisa, beautiful, unscientific Nagisa, but that doesn’t mean he wants Amakata-sensei to witness his mistakes.

Rei is assaulted by Makoto when he walks into the tea shop at seven.

“Are you alright?” Rei asks because Makoto’s face is screwed up in what looks like… constipation? “No, but seriously, what _is_ that expression?”

Makoto’s constipated face melts away into an embarrassed smile. “Haru-chan, I’m no good with this,” he calls out.

Rei is confused, then realizes that Makoto was trying to come off as threatening. Makoto is threatening the way a giant rainbow lollipop is threatening.

Makoto runs a hand through his hair. “Look, just be careful with Nagisa, okay?”

“What?” Rei asks.

Makoto shifts, clearly uncomfortable. “Um…”

At that moment, Nagisa bursts in. “Oh my god, Mako, what did you DO to him? He looks like he’s about to be sick! Don’t throw up on me, Rei-chan…”

Makoto simply walks over to the counter, refusing to acknowledge Nagisa’s question. He returns with a packet of cookies and hands them to Nagisa, who stares at the packet like it’s a demon about to attack.

“They’re free cookies, Nagisa-kun,” Rei says. “You should not resemble someone who’s been slapped in the face.”

“Mako-chan never just GIVES you the cookies,” Nagisa says. “Free cookies are _laden with meaning,_ Rei-chan. What did he say?”

“What?” Rei says.

“What did Mako say to you before I came in?” Nagisa demands, coming closer, gripping Rei’s arms.

“Nothing,” says Rei, shoving a cookie towards Nagisa. Nagisa gives him a _yeah, right_ look. A thick, uncomfortable silence stretches between them, and Nagisa makes no move to break it, letting it strangle Rei, making him talk.

“Fine,” Rei says. “Makoto said to be careful with you.”

Nagisa groans. “No amount of cookies are making up for this. I _could_ harass him about Haru,” Nagisa says thoughtfully. “But then I’d feel bad.”

“What did he mean by that?” Rei asks. Nagisa is the one who forced this topic, so Rei’s not going to let him back out of it.

“That’s just Makoto looking out for me,” Nagisa says. Then, under his breath, “It’s not his fault we all have the EQ of elephants.”

“Actually, elephants are surprisingly intelligent,” Rei starts, but Nagisa silences him with a roll of his eyes.

“Rei-chan, did you want to meet up with me today?” Nagisa demands. “The project’s over.”

“Nagisa, what are you trying to say?” Rei yells. He’s confused because Nagisa and Rei are like some chemical equation that Rei can’t solve because he doesn’t know the formula and Nagisa’s properties are _so freaking confusing._

“Do I have to spell it out for you?” Nagisa shrieks. “Oh my god, seriously?”

Rei is clueless. He needs the answer key. “Please.”

Nagisa throws his hands in the air. “Okay, Rei- I like you! I have ever since, I don’t know, like- ugh, and I don’t know if you like me back or if you’d just been putting up with me for the sake of this project, but whatever, it’s fine, and if you need me to spell this out further, I’m just going to drown in a bucket of Haru-chan’s bubble tea, okay?” Then, Nagisa goes into turtle-mode and stuffs his face into his hoodie.

Well. Now Rei had no other option but to get it right, and he wants to be eloquent and mathematical, but there is nothing mathematical about the way his heart is pounding right now. He attributes it to teenage hormones, but there is nothing particularly beautiful about _that._

Instead, what comes falling out of his mouth is, “I’m an idiot.”

“You _are_ ,” comes Nagisa’s muffled voice, firmly squashed in fabric.

“But um, it’s uh, yeah, I just mean, well…” Rei starts over. “I like you too, Nagisa-kun.” Rei wants to slap himself. His brain has disintegrated and left a pitiful mess of synapses and dendrites in its place.

Nagisa turns his head ever so slightly. Rei can see the ghost of a teasing smirk on the corner of Nagisa’s mouth. “Okay.” He reaches out and grasps Rei’s hand, and their fingers are sweaty.

Rei squeezes Nagisa’s hand in an attempt to be romantic, but the sweat ends up making an audible _squish_ and Rei decides that he and Nagisa are kind of like the union between science and art with a whole lot of idiocy thrown in the mix, and it’s going to be a long way down the road before they can work out any semblance of a proper romance into their screwed up concoction.

Plus, their first kiss was in a toilet stall. Rei is not the only one bad at this.

Just then, “Rin” bursts into the door and marches over to where “Sousuke” is sitting, grabs his face, and then violently kisses him. Rei blinks.

“That was unexpected,” he says.

“ _Plot_ _twist,_ ” Nagisa says, laughing.

\---

It’s several months later and the two of them are in Nagisa’s bedroom.

“What are you _doing_?” Rei yelps. His glasses are smeared with vanilla ice cream. “This literally defies the laws of logic.”

Nagisa and Rei are attempting to eat a bar of ice cream together. They’re writing a Haikyu Fanfiction called “Volleyball Idiots Attempting Romance,” and Nagisa and Rei, who are both sufficiently idiotic enough that they could have been included in the Fanfiction themselves had they played volleyball, are testing various romantic gestures to make it more realistic.

Though it shouldn’t be possible to fail so badly at eating ice cream. It’s gotten everywhere except for their mouths.

Nagisa laughs and kisses Rei’s cheek (because there’s ice cream on it, and Nagisa’s sneaky like that).

Rei blushes. “All for creativity, huh?”

Nagisa smiles. “Just go with it, Rei-chan.”


End file.
